It may Be Cold Outside but wildfire season will soon be here.

For most recent situation report of wildfire activity for the DOF click the link below.

http://dof.virginia.gov/fire/sit-rep.htm

Other Wildfires In The News

Australia: Wildfire razes 26 homes, 29 people seek treatment

The fires are the worst in terms of scale and intensity since the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 which killed 75 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

It's Not Wildfires But It's New and Important

South What? … SouthWRAP!

 www.southernwildfirerisk.com/

The Virginia Department of Forestry is pleased to announce a new tool called SouthWRAP (Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal).  This web-based computer program is a one-stop-shop to homeowners, planners, emergency managers and responders that will help determine wildfire risk. In addition to presenting the risk, the site offers measures people can take to mitigate the potential hazards from wildfires.

SouthWRAP enables users in Virginia and 12 other southern states to identify wildfire threats based on landscape characteristics, historical fire occurrence, weather conditions and terrain.  And it directs users to resources that can help them implement wildfire prevention practices.

Accessible at http://www.southernwildfirerisk.com, the portal and its tools are free to use.  Two levels of access are available – professional and public.  The professional-level portal allows full functionality.  (Note: The portal works best using the free Internet browser called Firefox.  Google Chrome is another option.  There is some loss of functionality when using Internet Explorer.)  Professional users can use SouthWRAP to generate a report packaging all the wildfire risk data for specific communities.  This tool can be useful in defining mitigation options, allocating resources and prioritizing programs that will better protect communities.

The Public Viewer is a web mapping application designed to let users zoom to a place of interest, explore map themes, and identify wildfire risk for a specific location on the map. The featured tool in this application is called “What’s Your Risk?” It allows users to identify specific risk levels within a half-mile radius of a home, or any other point of interest on the map. The application is available to all site visitors and site registration is not required to use the application.

The Professional Viewer is a web mapping application designed to support community wildfire protection planning needs of government officials, fire planners, and hazard mitigation planners. The application contains advanced capabilities and additional map themes compared to the Public Viewer. The key features of the application include the capability to define a project area, generate a detailed risk summary report, generate quick maps, and export and download the wildfire risk GIS data. Access to the Professional Viewer requires a user account from SGSF. A Free and easy rregistration to the site is required.

The firefighting community is strongly encouraged to log on, register for the professional portal and become familiar with this important, user-friendly tool.

Fred Turck, VDOF’s Assistant Director for Resource Protection oversees the SouthWRAP program and can be contacted at 434.220.8052 or fred.turck@dof.virginia.gov .